1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tent clips, specifically to easier-to-use tent clips for attaching tent fabric to an overlying pole.
2. Prior Art
Tents are supplied with their component parts disassembled and packaged. The parts must be unpacked and assembled to erect the tent. Reducing the time required to erect a tent properly may be more than a convenience. In high-altitude, extreme conditions, tent setup can test the patience of even highly experienced alpinists. For the less experienced, simplifying and hastening this process may become a matter of survival.
Many tents used by backpackers and mountaineers employ a series of clips to attach the tent fabric or body to overlying support poles. Such tents usually have from one to six flexible poles, which arch over the body of the tent, with each pole end being attached to the perimeter of the tent fabric. A series of tent clips, each attached to the tent fabric by a strap or piece of webbing, are then attached to the pole in order to support the tent body and to hold the pole in correct alignment. A typical tent may have twenty or more of these clips. Attaching the clips to the support poles is frequently the most time-consuming step in setting up a tent. To attach each clip individually requires considerable time. However, to ensure proper attachment, each clip must be correctly aligned, positioned, and then somehow held in this arrangement prior to attachment to the overlying poles. This is not a simple or a quick process to perform, particularly in extreme weather conditions. If any of the above steps are omitted, or hastily performed, it is likely that some clips will be attached in the wrong orientation and sequence, and frequently to the wrong poles. Thus, further setup time is often required to detach and then reattach errant clips. Ways of expediting this tedious tent setup process are understandably in great demand by tent users and manufacturers.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,643,183 to Smith (1927) and U.S. Pat. No. 1,690,694 to Nissen (1928) show clips which connect on one side to a cord or webbing, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,351 to Bartolini (1982) shows a clip that attaches directly to fabric by ultrasonically welding a protruding polymeric tab into the fabric. While these clips do have means that would allow them to be attached to webbing or fabric, no means of simplifying or expediting the process of attaching tent clips to tent poles is shown or suggested.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,413 to Watts et al. (1980) shows a means for releasably attaching fabric to an overlying pole, as does U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,083 to Kim (1991) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,355 to Cantwell (1995). However none of these patents suggest or show any way to expedite tent clip placement.
In conclusion, no tent clip formerly developed or known addresses or meets the need for systematically organizing and expediting the process of connecting tent clips to tent support poles.